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  • The Complete Guide to the Best Bars in Bar Harbor, Maine

    Where To Grab A Drink Around Acadia National Park Bar Harbor is a lot of things: a gateway to Acadia, a lobster roll pilgrimage destination, and a town that somehow feels like a village, no ...

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    The Complete Guide to the Best Bars in Bar Harbor, Maine
  • The Complete Guide To Getting Out On Frenchmans Bay

    You can't come to Bar Harbor and not get out on the water. Frenchman Bay is stunning from shore, but it's absolutely breathtaking from a boat, a kayak, the deck of a four-masted schooner, and the bow ...

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    The Complete Guide To Getting Out On Frenchmans Bay
  • The Best Sunset Spots in Acadia National Park

    (And the Truth About the Ones Everyone Lists) Acadia National Park at sunset is one of the most spectacular things I've ever witnessed, and I've watched a lot of sunsets from a lot of places. The ...

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    The Best Sunset Spots in Acadia National Park
  • One Day In Acadia With Dogs: A Local’s Itinerary

    Acadia National Park on the rocky, gorgeous coast of Maine is, hands down, one of the most dog-friendly national parks in the entire United States. It's where the mountains meet the sea, where the ...

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    One Day In Acadia With Dogs: A Local’s Itinerary

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National Parks

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April 14, 2021

One Day In Portland, Maine: The Perfect 2026 Itinerary

Find out how to spend One Day In Portland, Maine. Including Where To Stay, Eat, Shop & What You Can’t Miss…

April 10, 2021

Lamar Valley, Yellowstone: The Wild Heart of the Park

There is one place that you absolutely CAN’T MISS on your next trip to Yellowstone National Park! Keep reading to find out…

April 6, 2021

Is Great Smoky Mountains National Park Dog Friendly?

Find out if Great Smoky Mountains is dog friendly and 12 fun things to do with your pups near the park…

April 1, 2021

Camping At Acadia: The Complete Guide

Camping at Acadia National Park with dogs - complete guide featured image showing a Siberian Husky at a misty Seawall Campground campsite with picnic table and fire ring under tall pine trees, covering Blackwoods, Seawall, and Schoodic Woods NPS campgrounds plus dog-friendly RV parks on Mount Desert Island, Maine

Everything you ever wanted to know about camping at Acadia National Park with dogs…

March 20, 2021

One Day In Yellowstone National Park

Yellowstone National Park is such an extraordinary place that you will want to see everything! This guide is for you if you only have one day in Yellowstone…

March 16, 2021

Is Rocky Mountain National Park Dog Friendly?

Rocky Mountain National Park is a really special place and it would be awesome if you could share it with your pups! But is Rocky Mountain National Park Dog Friendly?

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Hi! I'm Vanessa, a 30 something, sunset chasing traveler. I'm here to inspire you to travel wherever, whenever, and with whoever you can. My Huskies, Loki and Freya are usually along for the ride. I have a soul that likes to wander, a desire to experience the unknown, and a curiousity to discover things off the beaten path. I hope you'll stick around for awhile!

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Let's be friends! I know e-mails can suck but mine won't and I promise cute pup photos too!

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Recent Posts

  • The Complete Guide to the Best Bars in Bar Harbor, Maine
  • The Complete Guide To Getting Out On Frenchmans Bay
  • The Best Sunset Spots in Acadia National Park
  • One Day In Acadia With Dogs: A Local’s Itinerary
  • Where To Get The Best Lobster On Mount Desert Island

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I stand by every single one of these. Mostly. 🎸 S I stand by every single one of these. Mostly. 🎸

Some of these were obvious. Some of these came to me somewhere between mile 300 and a gas station coffee that tasted like regret.

Save this for your next road trip playlist, send it to the friend who has very strong opinions about Yosemite, and prepare to argue with me in the comments.

Because apparently assigning 90s songs to National Parks is serious business.

Which one did I absolutely get wrong? 👇
I’ve been obsessed with wolves since I was a littl I’ve been obsessed with wolves since I was a little kid. Books, documentaries, terrible wolf T-shirts from gift shops, if it had a wolf on it, I wanted it.

So when a pack moved through the herd at sunrise, running, playing, completely unbothered by the crowd of humans collectively forgetting how to breathe, I cried. Right there next to the truck holding my incredibly heavy zoom lens that didn’t even get CLOSE to capturing their beauty. 

No shame. Zero dignity. Full Disney princess meets exhausted millennial.

Lamar Valley is the closest thing we’ve got to the Serengeti: bison everywhere, a moose hiding in the willows, and if the timing is right (swipe to slide 3), wolves doing the exact thing I’ve spent decades hoping to see.

This is why I occasionally betray my deeply held belief that 5 a.m. is a personal attack. Because every once in a while, an alarm clock hands you a moment your eight-year-old self would have absolutely lost her mind over.

Some mornings give you back something you’ve been waiting decades for.

📍 Lamar Valley, Yellowstone
A few million years of erosion and I’m the one who A few million years of erosion and I’m the one who feels small. Worth it.

🎵 Top 5 on my Canyonlands playlist:

	1.	Learning To Fly - Tom Petty
	2.	Counting Blue Cars - Dishwalla
	3.	Round Here - Counting Crows
	4.	Champagne Supernova - Oasis
	5.	All For You - Sister Hazel 

Best played with the windows down and nowhere to be ✌️
. 
#canyonlands #canyonlandsnationalpark #utahnationalparks #nationalparks #roadtripplaylist
One day in Rocky Mountain isn’t enough. Here’s how One day in Rocky Mountain isn’t enough. Here’s how to make it count anyway

If you’ve only got 24 hours, here’s the play:

Book first. Bear Lake Road needs its own permit, they sell out, so grab them early on recreation.gov.

Then: start before the crowds and the afternoon storms, hit the overlooks along Trail Ridge Road, do Bear Lake + Alberta Falls (if you get a permit), and break for the smoked pheasant chowder at @birdandjim in Estes Park (genuinely one of the best things I’ve eaten on the road).

End at Sprague Lake when the light goes gold.

Save this now so you’re not Googling “easy hikes Rocky Mountain” from the trailhead with one bar of service.
turns out “doing nothing” in a national park is th turns out “doing nothing” in a national park is the most I’ve ever felt like myself. 🦌
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